Welcome to Spotted on Tour, where we’ll highlight buzzy apparel, gear, gadgets and more that caught our eye over the weekend. Better yet, we’ll help you get your hands on your own.
Patrick Cantlay went low on Sunday at the Zozo Championship. The 28-year-old nabbed his third career PGA Tour victory at Sherwood Country Club with a final round, seven-under 65. With a whopping NINE birdies, Cantlay fended off Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas.
His Sunday performance capped a tournament in which Cantlay ranked near the top of the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-green and averaged more than 290 yards per drive, 5 yards better than the Tour average for the week.
After finishing the week at 23 under, expectations couldn’t be higher for Cantlay at next month’s fall Masters — particularly considering last year’s performance. It was just over a year-and-a-half ago that Cantlay briefly flashed into the lead on Sunday at Augusta National over the likes of Brooks Koepka and eventual champion Tiger Woods. With a win just three weeks out from Augusta, it seems Cantlay is loading his game for a major breakthrough.
“I played really well,” he said after the victory. “I feel like I have been playing well for a while and this week it just kind of all came together every day. Obviously I started today a few back, but I knew I had to go out and make a bunch of birdies.”
But even as Cantlay and the remainder of the golf world gear up for 2020’s final (and most anticipated) major championship, the golf gear industry is chugging along at its usual pace. For consumers, that means the steady trickle of new products into the marketplace. The new Titleist TSi figures to be one of the biggest hits in the equipment industry, whenever it’s released to the public. It’s already a favorite of many of Titleist tour staffers who rave about the club’s new construction and performance. But Cantlay has yet to bag any of the new TSi drivers, perhaps waiting until after the Masters to tweak with a setup that’s worked wonders for him already.
Instead, Cantlay is rolling with Titleist’s TS3 driver, the mid-launch, low-spin specialist that won one of the top spots in our 2020 ClubTest ranking. The TS3 is a favorite among Tour players and amateurs alike thanks to a SureFit CG cartridge for added distance and a multitude of adjustable settings. Could it work for you? Hey, it works for Cantlay.
James Colgan is a news and features editor at GOLF, writing stories for the website and magazine. He manages the Hot Mic, GOLF’s media vertical, and utilizes his on-camera experience across the brand’s platforms. Prior to joining GOLF, James graduated from Syracuse University, during which time he was a caddie scholarship recipient (and astute looper) on Long Island, where he is from. He can be reached at james.colgan@golf.com.